Approaching the end of the year, there were several heavy snowfalls in Beijing in Layue, Zhu You got the emperor's token but never left the palace again, and it was indeed freezing outside that there was a lot less interest in having fun. There was a dragon burning in the room, Zhu Youzhen was holding a stove in his arms, and he was reading a copy of "Draft Agricultural Book" in his hand, a warm scene.

Recently, when there is nothing to do, His Royal Highness Wu will burn a furnace of incense in the room, make a pot of tea, read some miscellaneous books, this "draft of agricultural books" is a book written by Xu Guangqi in the early years of the imperial history of Henan Province, and it took Zhu Youzhen a lot of effort to find it. Because of the poor foundation of ancient literature, Zhu Youjian had a hard time reading this book, but even so, he still read it with relish, and spent a few days of trivial time.

After the Lantern Festival, the Ministry of Internal Affairs began to select a girl for Emperor Luo's eldest grandson, and Emperor Wanli explained it to Wang An, the chief eunuch, but this matter was Concubine Zheng's idea, so he asked his henchman Cui Wensheng, the eunuch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, to take over.

Although it is said that it is a draft girl for the emperor's eldest grandson, the process of the draft is really nothing for the emperor's eldest grandson, and the Internal Affairs Office is busy, and basically everyone focuses on the draft girl.

Zhu Youzhen is a gentleman when he picks up the book, and he is a scoundrel when he puts down the book, and it is time to go out and harm the scourge after holding it in the room for more than a month.

got Zhu Youzhen's notice, and the next morning, I saw two people wearing eunuch uniforms looking sneakily at the door of the Fifth Highness, one was Zhu Youxiao, and the other was his personal eunuch Zhao Quan. Because the messenger only said that His Royal Highness the Fifth was going to take the two out of the palace, but he didn't say that there was a token to go out with a swagger, according to common sense, he wanted to dress up and sneak out, so the two made some preparations.

With the help of the palace people, Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but laugh when he saw the strange appearance of the handsome eunuch in front of him, if it weren't for the inconvenience of wearing eunuch clothes, he really didn't mind taking Zhu Youxiao out for a stroll like this. This time, there was no response arranged by Li Jinzhong outside the palace, Zhu Youzhen originally wanted to take Li Jinzhong out with him, but because the affairs of the draft girls were in charge of many affairs in the Shanggong Bureau, Li Jinzhong couldn't get out of his body, so he could only give up.

Zhu Youzhen asked people to take two sets of clothes for Zhu Youxiao and Zhao Quan to change into. This time, Zhu Youzhen only brought Gao Sheng and Gao Han, while Zhu Youxiao only brought Zhao Quan. With the token, a few people can finally swagger out of the palace at noon, anyone who is not satisfied will show the card, hula has a few kneeling, it is better than taking the long live Lord himself, and Zhu Youxiao who watched it was envious.

Out of the moat, Zhao Quan went to find a carriage, Gao Sheng and Gao Han rode horses, and Zhu Youzhen greeted and then ran to Liuli Lane. It's not that Zhu Youzhen still has something to buy, but the pocket watch last time was given to Emperor Wanli and he needs to make up for it.

This time, there is no need to follow the waterwheel, and there is a horse-drawn carriage to travel, and it only takes less than a quarter of an hour to already see the archway of Liuli Lane. Zhu Youzhen deliberately explained to a few people again and again to call Zhu Youxiao the uncle here and call him the fifth master, so that his identity must not be exposed.

At this time, the time is just right, the most lively time in Liuli Lane, Zhu Youzhen has already been here once, and Zhu Youxiao is the first time to see this scene and dance excitedly.

The carriage couldn't move after passing the archway, so it had to wait outside, and a few people walked inside along the flow of people. When I was about to arrive at the watch shop, I saw the Franco chick greeting guests at the door from a distance, Zhu Youxiao was very curious when he saw a foreigner with yellow hair and blue eyes for the first time, and it looked like this chick was quite beautiful.

"Little Five, do you know how to greet people when they meet?" Obviously, the Franc machine who greeted the guests was in Da Ming dialect, and Zhu Youxiao, who was a little excited because he saw a foreign beauty for the first time, didn't notice that he wanted to say hello in a foreign language.

Although Zhu Youzhen was a top student of Peking University in his previous life, he did not learn Portuguese, but English as an international lingua franca should theoretically be understood by this Portuguese.

"When we meet, we usually ask, 'Have you eaten?' In their words, it's 'Darling, love tiger oil!' Zhu Youzhen replied with a lewd face.

Because the business of the watch shop is not good, so this Franc machine beauty was very impressed by the little boy who had bought two of the most high-end pocket watches at a time in their shop and could speak the British language. ”

"Darling, love tiger oil." Zhu Youxiao also greeted warmly.

Since these Franc machine people came to Daming, the people they have seen are all reserved and reserved, and it is really the first time to see it so directly, and the free-spirited Franc machine beauties are a little uncomfortable. Peeking a few more glances at this direct gentleman, he was a little handsome, gorgeously dressed, and elegant, he should belong to the young and golden type, so he replied shyly, "Love Tiger Oil Rabbit." After speaking, he hid his face and ran into the store, it seems that this Franc Ji chick has been deeply influenced by the ladies of the Ming Dynasty, and they have learned to hide their faces and be shy.

When he first came to the watch shop, Zhu Youzhen had already learned that this Franc machine woman was called Catarina, the daughter of Fernand, a missionary of the Catholic Church in the south of the city, and it had been nearly ten years since she arrived in the Ming Dynasty, and she was committed to spreading the Western astronomical calendar and Western philosophy in the Ming Dynasty. And often chanted poetry in front of her, Katarina also has a very down-to-earth Chinese name called Liu Jifen.

Zhu Youzhen and a few people looked at various styles of clocks casually, only Zhu Youxiao was pulled by the arm of the Francophone chick after entering the store, and this and that were introduced.

Zhu Youxiao has been in the palace for sixteen years, except for the palace maid who serves him to change clothes and wash, no woman has ever been so close to him, and the palace maid never dares to exceed the rules when serving him, where is it so close like this, a charming feeling arises spontaneously from the bottom of Zhu Youxiao's heart, the more Zhu Youxiao does not dare to move, his body feels a little stiff, a bit like a marionette being towed, it feels like - the first time Brother Chu visited the Qinglou.

Zhu Youzhen also discovered the abnormality of the imperial brother, but he didn't expect that a little joke he made with the imperial brother might become a good story, sixteen years old is still so simple, even as a carpenter, it is a little difficult for the imperial brother.

"Miss Catarina, I need this pocket watch." Zhu Youzhen cleared the siege for Zhu Youxiao.

"Okay sir, five taels of silver, for the sake of your second purchase of my pocket watch, I would like you to call me Liu Jifen or Jifen." The enthusiastic Francophone shopkeeper finally let go of Zhu Youxiao and talked about business seriously, and Zhu Youxiao was like being amnestied.

Zhu Youzhen paid the money, put away his pocket watch, chatted casually with Katarina, and prepared to leave.

Zhu Youxiao glanced at Katarina a few more times and then turned around and left with Zhu Youzhen, he was a little afraid of Katarina's enthusiasm and a little reluctant to see this woman who was so close for the first time.

Catarina saw that the gentleman who had told her "love tiger oil" was about to leave without even saying goodbye, and asked with some disappointment, "I wonder where the gentlemen are going?" ”

"There is no destination, but I heard that there is a blue immortal in the Qingyun Temple of Yunlong Mountain before, and I just want to visit it today if I have nothing to do." Zhu Youzhen is only out of the palace for the second time, there is nothing special I want to go to, I think of the hexagram left by the Taoist Hong Xinghe when I left the palace last time, so I want to take advantage of today to go to Qingyunguan to find a solution to the blue road.

"Did you make an appointment with the Blue Fairy?" Katarina asked, slightly disappointed.

"Never."

"In that case, there is just a literary meeting in Xingzhi Academy in Wudaokou today, why don't you go and have a look together?" Katarina invited with some excitement. "Xingzhi Academy's literary meeting is the largest literary event in Wudaokou, and there is a small literary meeting in other places every few days, but Xingzhi Academy is only held once a month, and you can't enter without an invitation, I just happen to have it here, I can take you in, Qingyunguan can go at any time, Xingzhi Academy's literary meeting is very difficult to miss this time, I heard that this literary meeting will even be attended by Xu Ming'er, the first talented woman in Jiangnan, and Mo Shengbai, who was called a genius boy by the first assistant Fang Congzhe." Katarina was afraid that a few people would refuse to continue the introduction.

Xu Ming'er is the granddaughter of Xu Guangqi, the former imperial history of Henan Province, Xu Guangqi was transferred to the left waiter of the Ministry of Officials a year ago, and the family moved to Beijing after the year.

Xu Guangqi's ancestral home is Shanghai, Xu Minger also grew up in Shanghai, she is not only proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, but also deeply influenced by her grandfather, and has been involved in astronomical calendar, organ arithmetic, art of war and agriculture, so she was rated as the first talented woman in Jiangnan by some literati in Jiangnan.

And Mo Shengbai's original surname is Qin, his father is a showman in Xiaoshan, Hangzhou, who has entered the Qin family in Xiaoshan before he was born, so he was called Qin Shengbai when he was born, Qin Shengbai started the county test, the government test, the hospital test, and the township test at the age of eight.

Zhu Youzhen didn't have much interest in any talented women in the Ming Dynasty, and it would be almost the same if he was replaced by a beautiful woman, but it was okay to have nothing to do to join in the fun.

"It's okay to go back to Qingyunguan in the future, but I don't know what the big brother wants." Afraid of Zhu Youxiao's embarrassment, he naturally has to take care of his emotions, and Zhu Youzhen can't be called the imperial brother anymore.

"Won't it delay your business?" After Zhu Youxiao asked this, the atmosphere was much more embarrassing, except for a few of his own customers, there was really no business in the store.

"No delay, no delay, I'm preparing to close and go to the south of the city." Katarina said as she began to pack her things and prepare to close the door.

"Since Miss Jifen has kindly invited, we will not refrain from refusing." Zhu Youxiao was a little reluctant to this new friend of Franc Ji, and he agreed just by taking advantage of Poe's homeopathy.

When Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Youzhen brothers sat in the car, Zhao Quan drove the car, Gao Sheng and Gao Han rode horses, and at this time, there was an extra woman Zhu Youzhen took the initiative to let out and sit outside with Zhao Quan to catch the car, but he knew what it was like to be a light bulb, so it was left to Zhu Youxiao and Katarina.

Wudaokou is named because it is located at the intersection of five avenues, and the Ming people, whether intellectuals or working people, generally believe that Wudaokou is the center of the world.

All the colleges in the capital are gathered in Wudaokou, Xingzhi Academy is the largest academy in Wudaokou except Guozijian, in addition to Xingzhi Academy, there are also Shidong Academy, Youlu Academy, Hengyang Academy, and the first academy, etc., but these academies only teach some four books, five classics and eight articles, and Xingzhi Academy in addition to teaching the subset of the history of the arts, including the art of war, the arithmetic calendar, farming and water conservancy, Qiyin skill, etc. Because of this, although Xingzhi Academy is the largest, most of the students are poor people who come to learn Qiyin skill, just to master a craft and have the ability to eat, followed by some learning the art of war, arithmetic calendar and water conservancy farming. Because most of the students have never looked at the strange skills, and the things taught by Xingzhi Academy are so complicated, for students who don't listen to things outside the window and only read the books of sages and sages, this is a manifestation of not doing their jobs, not only students, but even some gentlemen from other academies sneer at Xingzhi Academy.

The strangest thing about Xingzhi Academy is that it seems that the two best students in the capital and the most stubborn group are in Xingzhi Academy. Whether it is poetry couplets, heated debates or fights, Xingzhi Academy seems to have never lost, and over time, Xingzhi Academy's literary club has become the largest literary club in Wudaokou, mostly because the students of other academies want to take the opportunity to verify that Xingzhi Academy's behavior is wrong, so the literary club occasionally develops into a cultural and military club.

The carriage traveled for nearly half an hour to Xingzhi Academy, there was no stone lion guarding the door at the entrance of the academy, there was no magnificent gatehouse, and the three-step stone steps were less than half a foot on the threshold, which meant that the threshold was very low.

I heard that the doors of Guozijian and several other academies are all magnificent, and the threshold is like a competition, and the lowest one is one and a half feet, and some young children have to ride on the threshold before they can climb over when they enter the door.

The door plaque of Xingzhi Academy is written on the three big characters of Xingzhi Pavilion, the mahogany door posts on both sides are engraved with a pair of lacquered gold couplets, the right side is a good work, and the left side is a good job and a ridiculous play.

Entering the door, sure enough, I saw someone sitting at a table to register, it should be to check the invitation, Katarina felt a little strange when she saw it, it seemed that she could just show the invitation before, but she had not seen it and had to register.

Several people came to the registration office, and Katarina showed the invitation letter, which was written with Liu Jifen's name, and the person who registered seemed to be quite familiar with this Francophone beauty, so she naturally knew that Liu Jifen was her Chinese name.

"Because Shaanxi, Shanxi and other places were affected by disasters a few years ago, in addition to doing some literary affairs, the cultural society also deliberately carried out fundraising activities, and some calligraphy and painting works of the literary society will also be taken out for charity sale, and all the silver obtained will be used for disaster relief." The person in charge of registering and fundraising is a student from the mathematics department of Xingzhi College, named Fu Jiuzhang, because he often discusses some mathematical problems with Liu Jifen, so the relationship between the two is very good, seeing that Liu Jifen and his party are a little puzzled, they specially explained.

There are a lot of people who participated in this meeting, and most of them are children of families with some status, and it is conceivable that there must be a lot of donations involved, so in addition to Fu Jiuzhang, there are also one person from the Shuntianfu faction and two officials.

Katarina touched the five taels of silver obtained from selling the pocket watch on her body and was a little embarrassed, at this time Zhu Youxiao gave Zhao Quan an understanding look, so Zhao Quan took out a hundred taels of silver tickets and donated them and recorded them in Liu Jifen's name. However, this move did not win Liu Jifen's gratitude, but gave Zhu Youxiao a roll of the eyes, he worked hard to sell a pocket watch to get five taels of silver, this son donated a hundred taels and threw it out, she really wanted to use the five taels of silver on her body to exchange the one hundred taels of silver tickets back.

The inside of Xingzhi Academy is not as cold as the gatehouse, several bluestone eaves corridors meander to different places, there are flower branches that have been thanked outside the eaves corridor, there are green pine needles in the north, there are rockery stone tables, there are small bridges and flowing water, it is really a good place to tune the piano and read the golden scriptures.

Following Liu Jifen along a small road, there were gradually more people, and everywhere you could see groups of three people and groups of five discussing poetry and songs. After a while, a few people came to a school building, and before they entered the door, they could hear the crowd inside, and it seemed that the atmosphere of discussion was even stronger.

After entering the door, Zhu Youzhen looked around, there was a plaque hanging on the main hall with the unity of knowledge and action, and some calligraphy and paintings were hung on the other four walls, and more than a dozen people in the room were arguing loudly about what topic was surrounded by two young people, a man and a woman.

Seeing Liu Jifen coming, a few guys wearing scholar's robes and shaking folding fans before the beginning of spring said hello to this side, Zhu Youzhen looked at the crowd and saw an acquaintance.